According to a recent study conducted by a software company Pitney Bowes, 83% consumers have had a bad experience with annoying social media practices. Out of these, 65% blatantly mentioned that they would stop using the brand that pesters them all the time.

Another study conducted by research specialists Vanson Bourne revealed that respondents do not mind receiving occasional messages from brands they follow online. However, 40% of the people said that they would be annoyed to receive messages from a business they do not know or follow.

With these facts intact, it is clear that businesses must refrain from bad social media behavior. Below are the top ten very annoying practices that must be avoided:

Automated Twitter DM

Have your followers on Twitter said an okay to send them direct messages? Of course not! For you must know that Twitter is not an Email list; it’s a conversation! It is bad etiquette and very annoying if you send automated direct messages to each new follower.

And if you thought adding a personal touch to an automated message would work in your favor, think again! Most users are discerning enough to see these messages for what they are— advertisements!

Google+ Direct Posts

Google+ comes with a feature that allows sending direct posts to people. Now what you must know is: doing this once in a while is okay and sending posts directly to a select few is fine, but sending regular promotional messages to your connections is perceived as just plain offensive.

SPAM Pinterest Group Boards

Are you randomly inviting people (and even their relatives!) to contribute to your group boards? If so, stop doing it right away! You need to understand that if a user has nothing to do with your product or service, they would have no interest whatsoever in contributing to your content.

For making people a part of your community, you must take the initial step of introducing yourself and building a relationship. Also, it’s important to practice targeted marketing, and inviting the select audience that have expressed an interest in your niche through their shares, boards, and profile information.

Hashtags & Facebook

While Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ acknowledge hashtags, it does not mean every platform does. So if you are using hashtags on Facebook, it simply means you do not know what you doing! Hashtags have absolutely no functional value on Facebook.

Mass Google+ Community Invites

Of course, people don’t mind receiving invites, but telling them to join communities like paragliding, breeding horses, digging mud, or climbing a tree with a book in their hand is annoying! Okay, the last two are made-up, but you get the point, don’t you?

Sending invites is all right, but it makes sense to only approach those who have the slightest interest in the topic of your community. It is a good practice to know your target audience and initial research will go a long way in your favor.

Boasting On LinkedIn

If used the right way, LinkedIn is an amazing networking tool. However, no one likes it if you keep on ranting about yourself or your company. It’s annoying! Just like other platforms, interesting content and constant interaction will get you brownie points here.

Distorted Images

Our brain responds 60,000X times faster to visuals than text. Furthermore, visual information receives better reception by 40% people. This makes visuals a prominent part of social media marketing efforts. However, you must learn the exact dimensions each platform recommends. Uploading out of shape or distorted images will only run down your entire campaign.

Turning Mute

If you have not been responding to requests, comments or queries lately, there is only one question that arises: “What does social mean to you?” Of course, you can’t be on top of things at all times, but a long delay in accepting requests and ignoring queries must be avoided.

You have to show your followers that you care. Like their comment, re-tweet what they say, and make them feel happy. You must also know how to deal with negative feedback. Respond to them politely and reasonably and do not delete any negative feedback.

Compensating For Inactivity

While going off the social radar is a problem in itself, over-compensating for inactivity is a bigger sin! Being inert for a couple of days does not mean you choke your followers with several posts in a day. Doing so will only annoy people and force them to un-follow you.

+Brandon Leibowitz is a Social Media fanatic. His blog, Bosmol, is based on trending stories on various topics related to social media, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Plus, Internet Marketing, Social Bookmarking, Smartphones, SEO, and many other topics. Established in Los Angeles, California in 2007. Subscribe to us to receive the latest news and updates first. Please feel free to comment back.

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